Reports that Major League Baseball is considering playing under quarantine conditions in Arizona and Florida don’t sit well with Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler.
Wheeler, whose wife Dominique is due to deliver their daughter in July, said he would balk at the plan if approved.
“I am not going to miss the birth of my first child. I don’t care,” Wheeler told NBC10 in Philadelphia on Friday. “I’m going to be there for her and the birth of my child. That’s a fact. I think anybody would do the same thing. Any dad. Whether I have to come back here (his home in Atlanta) and be with her and miss two more weeks because I have to quarantine to play again, so be it.”
Wheeler, 29, signed a five-year, $118 million deal with the Phillies in December. He was 11-8 with a 3.96 ERA and 195 strikeouts in 31 starts last season for the division rival New York Mets.
USA Today reported Friday that MLB is considering a radical realignment plan that would scrap traditional leagues and place teams in six divisions based on spring training locations for the 2020 season. Teams would play games in only those two states and without fans in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The players, staff and essential personnel — but not their families — would be kept quarantined, an idea that Wheeler said “makes no sense.”
“I want to be here with [my wife] during that time,” he said. “It’s something special. You’ll never get to experience that again, the birth of your first child. They are saying your significant other would not be allowed to be with you. That makes no sense to me. If we’re gonna be stuck in quarantine, then why can’t they be stuck with us in quarantine?”